Karma sucks, baby!
by LoveABCFamily
Summary: Alice, FP and Charles work together on clearing Jughead's and Betty's names following the sex tape and quiz scandals.


Alice paced back and forth through the kitchen, waiting for FP and Charles. She warily glanced at the package on the island, which had been left on the doorstep earlier. As there had been no name on it, Alice had ripped it open and had found a VHS tape inside. Thinking it was a recording of their house again, she had nearly put it into the DVR, when she noticed a small tape recorder attached to it. Ever the curious reporter, albeit on unpaid leave, Alice had immediately pressed the play button and had blanched as she had heard the conversation between Bret and a girl called Donna, in which pretty much all beans were spilled.

During the 20-minute recording, Bret boasted about a tape of Jughead and Betty, the subsequent blackmailing of Jughead and having typed up the questions to the quiz after the fact and pretended to have found them in Betty's dressing room. Alice had felt sick to her stomach while listening to the recording. Even during her worst investigative periods, Alice had never come across anything so low as to what Bret and Donna had done.

She had immediately called FP and demanded that he come home straight away with Charles. FP was busy and not very happy at being summoned home in the middle of the morning with no explanation. Upon hearing the frantic tone of Alice's voice, he relented and promised to find Charles and get home as soon as possible. When they finally arrived, FP looked at Alice worriedly.

"Al, what happened?"

"This happened." Alice pressed the play button on the tape recorder.

FP and Charles listened mesmerized, while Alice was already trying to be one step ahead and thinking about how to deal with the aftermath of the tape. Once the recording had finished, she noticed that FP had gripped the side of the island so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He looked at Alice.

"The tape he mentions…is it?"

Alice nodded slowly. "A sex tape. Of them in Jughead's room."

"Oh boy!" Charles said.

FP ran a hand over his face. "Is this why my boy decided to leave Stonewall? Blackmail?"

"I would assume so, FP. We would need to ask him. He might have wanted to protect Betty, I don't know. Do we take it to the Principal?"

Charles raised his hand. "We need to speak to them first. What if this is a copy and the original is still out there? We can't put Jughead or Betty in that position."

FP nodded slowly. "Bret, that son of a bitch. I should've listened to Jug, I should've let him leave when he asked. Oh God!"

Alice ran a hand across his back and stroked him. "You couldn't have known, FP. No one could. Maybe we can still fix this."

FP was already on his phone trying to reach Jughead, who had left to spend the weekend camping with Archie, Veronica and Betty. After several attempts, he finally managed to get through, although the static on the line was terrible.

"Jug…Jug…can you hear me? I need you to come home right now!" FP sighed loudly. "No…no, you're not in trouble…Yes, I'm fine. I can't discuss this over the phone. When can you be here?"

FP disconnected the call. "They'll be here in 3 hours."

Alice resumed her pacing. "What do we do with the business of the quiz. Do we go to Principal Honey to get Betty's name cleared?"

"Do we have any idea as to who sent this recording?" Charles asked.

Alice shook her head. "It must have been someone close to Bret and Donna. Isn't it enough to go by?"

Charles looked dubious. "It won't be enough. We need to confront Bret and have him confess to it."

FP could feel the anger boiling up in him. "I want to go and get my leather jacket and beat the shit out of him."

Charles raised his hands. "Whoa! FP, no! This is not the way to go about this. Let's think more Sheriff and less Serpent here."

Alice nodded in agreement. FP took a couple of deep breaths and looked at Charles.

"Son, I wonder if Bret knows about you…maybe a little more FBI and less Sheriff could be of advantage here."

Although Charles was still trying to fully come to terms with having newly found parents, hearing FP referring to him as his son always made him feel warm inside. This was not technically FBI business, but he really wanted to help.

"I can take the lead on this. It's not technically our jurisdiction, but hell, a bit of bluffing can't do much damage. Especially since we can't trust FP not to use his fists, even if he goes as the Sheriff."

"I want to smash his smug, white collar face to a pulp."

Charles and Alice looked at one another with a tell-tale look.

"Alice, I think you need to make sure that FP doesn't go near Bret."

Alice nodded and placed one arm on FP's.

"Now we just need to speak to the kids and find out if they have mentioned you to Bret in any form. It would work better if you could go as FBI Agent Smith and not as their brother."

Charles looked at his parents.

"So, pending what Betty and Jughead have to say, I propose we proceed as follows. I will play the recording to the Stonewall Prep Principal. If they don't know about my existence, I will come in FBI strong. If they do, FP might need to come with me, and we will put on a united Sheriff/FBI front. We will worry about Mr. Honey once we have a confession."

FP nodded slowly. "Glad someone is able to think clear-headed here. I can't believe I was so hard on Jughead about him quitting that school. Why, in God's name did he not tell me about that tape?"

Alice could hear the despair in his voice and put an arm around his shoulders. She placed a small kiss on his cheek.

"Maybe because you raised him to be a gentleman. Like I know you are, although you try and mask it well."

FP just shook his head. "I feel like such a fool."

Charles looked at his parents and once again wished that he could've had them fighting for him while growing up.

"Maybe we can still fix this. Guys like Bret should not be allowed to get away unscathed."

Alice moved towards the fridge. "I'm guessing no one is going back to the office until Jughead and Betty get here, so I might as well fix us some lunch."

She quickly prepared some sandwiches and served them to FP and Charles, before fixing a fruit plate for herself. They ate in silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. One hour later they heard the door and Jughead and Betty rushed into the kitchen. They wearily looked at the worried faces around the table.

"Dad, we were so worried. We came as soon as we could. What happened?"

FP looked at his son and simply pressed the play button on the recorder.

"I guess you should sit down."

Betty and Jughead listened to the recording in baffled silence. When the tape was mentioned Betty turned scarlet and Jughead stole an embarrassed look at his father. He was surprised that FP didn't seem to look upset. Once the recording had stopped, Jughead held his head in his hands.

"Wow! Dad, Alice, Charles, did you…?"

The three quickly shook their heads and FP handed the tape to Jughead.

"No, Boy, of course not. Take it."

Jughead took hold of the tape. "Thank you. I'm sorry." He said quietly.

FP placed his hand on Jughead's shoulder. "We'll discuss this later, ok?"

Jughead blushed and nodded. Charles decided to step in and save his siblings any further embarrassment.

"Betty, Jughead, does Bret know about me? That I'm an FBI agent and your brother?"

Betty and Jughead looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Not from me!" They said in unison.

FP nodded looked at Alice and Charles.

"Well, I think we should discuss plan A with them then."

Charles quickly filled them in on the plan to confront the Principal of Stonewall Prep under the guise of an FBI agent and try and pry a confession out of Bret, which they would then use to have him expelled and Jughead reinstated, before sending Alice and FP to Mr. Honey to have Betty's name cleared.

Jughead and Betty both agreed to the plan and Charles decided to take a drive to Stonewall Prep the following day. He excused himself to go back to the office, since he had already spent most of his day with his parents. FP also got up.

"I need to go back to the station. Jug, take a ride with me."

Jughead nodded and Betty enveloped him in a hug. She looked around the room.

"Juggie, FP, Mom, I had no idea that the tape was being used as blackmail to kick Jughead out of school. I don't care about it. If there's another copy, so be it. Jug, don't let them use it against you."

The three of them looked at Betty worriedly. Jughead was the first to speak.

"We'll talk about it once I'm back."

He followed his father out of the house and into the police cruiser. FP started driving towards the station in silence. He looked at Jughead.

"Son, why didn't you tell me the real reason you didn't want to fight the accusations?"

Jughead shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want to embarrass Betty."

"So instead you chose to be reprimanded by me?"

"I'm sorry, Dad. It wasn't her fault, it happened in my room, at my school. I should take the responsibility. I would never let Betty suffer the embarrassment of being caught on tape with me during…" Jughead blushed again.

"It's ok, Jug. I don't need details. We don't discuss the subject a lot, but I'm not that dumb or blind. You were being a gentleman, there's little I can say."

Jughead smiled. "Remember that night when you dropped me off at Homecoming? That's what you told me. Be a gentleman. Guess it stuck."

FP chuckled. "That was in a slightly different context, but ok. I get it. Maybe Charles will be able to fix things and you can move on from here."

Jughead nodded slowly. "I'm not sure I can go back there, Dad."

"I'm not sure I want you to, Jug. But I know that I want your name cleared and that piece of shit brought to justice. I was even considering putting on my Serpent's jacket and beating the shit out of him earlier. Charles talked me out of it."

Jughead laughed. "I think Charles was right. Although I would've loved to beat him up with you."

They had arrived at the station and Jughead got out of the car. FP walked up to him and hugged him.

"I'm proud of you, Jug. I have faith that this will get sorted. Do you mind walking back? I have a lot of catching up to do."

Jughead nodded and proceeded to walk back home. He was glad that he'd been able to clear the air with his father.

**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. The next one will explore Charles confrontation with the Principal at Stonewall.**


End file.
